Using Drupal at Western Washington University: an Intro

Western Web Edit

…Drupal for Western

What is Western Web Edit?

.. A Content Management System

.. based on Drupal

.. that enables regular humans to create

and maintain modern, dynamic

websites.

It’s a website for creating websites

What is Drupal?

Drupal is a free and open source

content management system (CMS)

Drupal is an open source community

Drupal, the word, is from the Dutch for droplets.

Hence the druplicon (mascot) in the form of a water

droplet

What is Open Source?

Open Source means that the source

code is supplied for those that want to

modify or improve the system.

It implies a community that contributes

their time to create extensions and fixes.

It is the opposite of proprietary software.

What’s so great about Open

Source?

So the community – people like us - fix it to work the way we want it

It is the opposite of proprietary software.

Lots of ants will straighten

a path…

A company is more likely

to cling to its “features”

Of course not! It depends on:

• An active, dedicated community of

developers with needs like ours

• A base product with good “bones” ……..structured …….good design principles

……..modular …….strong security policies

• Sufficient product maturity for

capability and stability

Is Open Source always good?

So…what is Drupal?

Drupal is a stable and mature open source product with one of the most active communities in the open source world. It has a fabulous security team and over 15000 modules contributed by thousands of developers.

Drupal is a robust, well-supported content management system

What is a CMS?

A Content Management System is a tool for

publishing website content that allows for:

• browser-only editing access (no special

software)

• content-centric rather than page-centric

production

• = re-usable content

• = re-configurable content

What is a CMS?………………………………….. re-usable content

Two different pages, some of the same content. Edit one, both change.

What is a CMS?

……….………... re-configurable content

What is a CMS?

……….………... re-configurable content

How can this be the same data?

Because CMS content is made of fields:

• Title

• Author

• Date

• Event type

Choose which fields you display, where, in what format. When you change it, the display changes everywhere it occurs on site.

Page-centric vs Content-centric?

Static Web

The page is smallest unit• you can link to it• you can link to it again• the page has no values – just

text

If you repeat a PIECE of content, you have to maintain

both copies; when today’s date changes, you have to update

the content manually

Dynamic Web

• Content is made of fields• Fields have a value

– a number– a link– some text, etc

Example:

List all the titles of calendar items that have a type “holiday” that haven’t happened yet…

When you add new content, or today’s date changes… the whole

site is updated automagically… it’s “dynamic” web

The power of fields…

Amazon.comTheir database associates buying and browsing history

with a user name

to show the logged-in users’ browsed but un-bought items, or offers to

buy back previously bought items.

The power of fields…

When displaying

an article in one subject area, lists

the titles of the

other articles in the

same subject

area. This list is created

once and grows

automatically as

content is created

in the same subject area.

The power of fields…

• Create a list of all the courses your department is teaching next year– List only those taught by Prof. Smith

– List only Spring Term Courses

– When you add a new course – all the pages using that data are updated

• List the events that haven’t happened yet…. and the list is updated for you each day

What is Western Web Edit?

A website for creating departmental

and college web sites

That provides the tools for you to create

a dynamic web site

• authenticated editors use any browser

to create or maintain a website

Why Western Web Edit?

The goal:

• facilitate more vibrant, up-to-date

websites

• by enabling content experts to create

and maintain modern, dynamic

websites

Don’t we do that now?

What people said before CMS and

dynamic web:

• It’s complicated

• So much can go wrong!

• It doesn’t think the way I do

• I don’t remember what program to use

And… no fields, just pages!

The Drupal Experience

http://dev.wwu-

demo.gotpantheon.com/

Just a demo -

no styling

fake content

Status

• Defined Requirements by working with

three colleges (Woodring, CBE, CFPA)

• Site-building in progress now

• Design group created to refine home

page design for academic groups (ATUS, UComm, Admissions, CFPA, & student rep)

• Launching capability for target

colleges late May (Design avail early summer)

Design Team

University Communications:– Derek Bryson (graphic designer)

– Matthew Anderson (design and policy)

CFPA– Courtney Hiatt (marketing designer)

– Jesse Sturgis (graphic designer)

Admissions:– Phil Acuncius (graphic designer)

– Jamin Agosti (student employee)

ATUS– Emilie Nouveau (Drupal expert and designer)

– Marie Raney (team lead)

Thank you

marie.raney@wwu.edu

Questions?